Appendix D

Official Time and Labor Relations in the
Office of Assessment (Field)

A.  The National Council of Social Security Administration Field Assessment Locals, hereinafter called "National Council," is responsible for labor relations on behalf of AFGE, the exclusive representative, with respect to the Office of Assessment (Field) of the Social Security Administration.

B.  Consistent with 5 U.S.C. 71 and the terms of this agreement, two National Council officers, ten regional Vice Presidents/Local Presidents (one per region) will be granted reasonable official time which is necessary for the performance of labor-management relations.

C. Other Local Officers.  Reasonable official time will be granted when approved in advance by local management on a case-by-case basis upon reasonable justification.

D.  Normally the Local President/Regional Vice President shall designate one (1) Local Representative for each installation.

Additional representatives may be designated for installations but there will be no more than one (1) primary local representative.

In larger installations the Local President/Regional Vice President may designate additional representatives on the basis of 1 per 100 unit employees.

E.  For the purpose of handling representational functions, such as grievances and other complaints the following provisions apply:

Local Representatives:  Up to 4 hours per week for offices up to 70 employees, up to 10 hours per week for offices of above 70 employees.  Time in excess of 6-month cumulative averages based on a fixed 6-month period may be approved as necessary on a case-by-case basis.  Local representatives and local management may choose to schedule usage of official time on some regular basis, provided that the terms of this Agreement are not compromised by such scheduling.

No additional time will be granted to additional representatives except when approved in advance by local management or when replacing the primary representative.  When the additional representative is used in place of the primary representative the time used shall be charged against the total hours available to the primary representative.

F.  In order to minimize travel expenses where there is a bargaining issue, and the frequency of formal meetings and negotiations, the parties will